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You Write it, AI Fine-Tunes It! by Bill Attardi

William Attardi on May 29, 2025

No matter your job or position, your ability to communicate – whether in writing or speaking – at the highest level of your capability will determine your relationships and your success in those relationships. Early on in life, most of us struggled with communicating our thoughts but you always knew developing that skill is essential. Business, like life, is a team sport and engaging and working with others is an everyday occurrence. The competency to communicate effectively is a continuing learning process. It’s a critical skill for success. The more you do it, the more competent you become.

Help is on the way. Enter AI – Artificial Intelligence. Yes, AI, the most powerful learning tool ever created. It can make you smarter, if you understand how it makes you learn. At Monmouth University, we integrate AI into our oral and written communication assignments to help students excel. Oral communications take the form of creating a slide presentation analyzing real-world case studies. Terrific learning experience to help them strengthen both their critical thinking and public speaking skills. We ask them to use AI to refine their delivery and content. For writing, we emphasize a critical process: original thought first. Write as you would have before AI ever existed, then feed your original work into AI and prompt AI to be your personal Writing Tutor to fine-tune it. This approach ensures you learn something new with every draft, steadily improving your writing skills and boosting your confidence. Again, it will make you smarter.

Why AI?

AI isn’t just a tech tool; it’s a game-changer for learning. It replaces those outdated methods with instant, powerful resources, accessible every time you have a need.

The Library – Once, we pored over books or today e-books for knowledge. AI’s vast “Big Data” library contains everything ever written, accessible in seconds. Now it’s all in the AI Library…
The Encyclopedia – We learned general background info on any topic from a collection of books in alphabetical order, to make it easy to find stuff. How nice was that… Fuhgeddaboudit….. Forget flipping through volumes of information for hours. Just prompt AI, and it retrieves precise answers instantly.
News & Media – From newspapers to social media and everything in between, we’ve always brainstormed ideas and information to spark debate or insight of current events. AI aggregates, compares and evaluates that thinking, helping you form sharper, more accurate conclusions. That is if ideology does not get in the way.
The Teachers – Many Teachers from grade school thru higher education all focused on Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic, right? Coaches, Tutors, Trainers, Teachers…all to make us smarter. Well, AI may be replacing us. Educators pass on what they know to help the learning process of others. Now, AI offers unmatched expertise, analyzing your writing for clarity, grammar, and style, and suggesting improvements no human could match in speed and scale never seen before. So where do we teachers fit in? Probably another blog… any suggestions?

Addressing AI Misuse

Since we are talking about education, let me end this blog by talking about the elephant in the room – Plagiarism – that is what it is and it has always been a problem. Sure, some students will misuse AI to bypass learning, to cheat, to plagiarize an assignment. Nothing new here…….

I spend no time policing when a student cheats. That’s a personal choice for me. It’s their choice if they want to learn or not. If they want to use AI to do all their work and learn nothing, they will find a way and it’s a losing battle for teachers, and frankly, a waste of time. Instead, the focus should be on inspiring students to see AI’s value as a lifetime learning tool. When used correctly, AI doesn’t just help you complete assignments—it makes you smarter. The choice is simple: embrace AI to grow, or miss out on its transformative potential, is the message. Not everyone will buy in, but those who do will thrive in a world where lifelong learning is non-negotiable. I still have faith in those that cheat. Some are just not ready to accept that learning is a never-ending process and that there are no short-cuts. When they figure it out, they will be fine.

The Future Is Here

AI’s full impact on education—and life—is just beginning to unfold. But one thing is already clear: it can enhance everything we do. Start with your original ideas. Use AI to refine, elevate, and clarify. You write it, AI fine-tunes it! Practice this consistently, and you’ll do more than just communicate better. You’ll think better. You’ll learn faster. You’ll work smarter. And ultimately, you’ll succeed in ways you never thought possible. Word of caution: connecting with people emotionally as well as intellectually is important for our overall health. Buona Salute!

Why LearnersLive.com, I offer the following…

William Attardi on April 29, 2025

Maybe you noticed but we expanded EnergyWatch into LearnersLive.com this year, to offer information you may not know. I have a passion for teaching, for learning……been doing it most of my life and for the past 20+ years at Monmouth University. Want to continue doing it as long as God allows. Here’s the plan:

LearnersLive Objective: to learn something you do not know; to confirm what you already know!
To post something for you to learn…a continuing learning experience.
Focus will be on topics of learning…..I have a dozen courses we can add to the curriculum right away…..all virtual……from 10 minute to 30 minute sessions. Completed five so far…

Effective Sales Presentation Skills – Learning Session #1, #2, #3

Selling in the Executive Suite
SWOT Analysis and Generative AI
Customer-Centric in the Digital Age
Coming in June: Innovation in the digital Age

What I’ve Learned Over Many Years Trying to Do the Right Thing

I have to start with what some say is the first commandment of success: Get a good education / develop a skill in something you really love to do and work hard at it. It really is that simple. Competency leads to confidency!
Never worry about your next job……work hard at the job you have and the promotions will come. A sports lesson: athletes understand that the best are playing in the playoff games. They just cannot worry about the next team they may play if they want to beat the team they are playing.
If you have a manager title, your primary responsibility is to develop the people who report to you…….don’t just manage, teach
Critical: develop both your oral and written communications skills at the highest level of your capability. No matter your job or position, your ability to communicate effectively will determine your relationships and your success in those relationships.
When you are asked to present / teach what you know and give to others. Be sure to entertain as well as inform. In today’s electronic information age, it’s the only way they will listen.
If everyone agrees with you then you are doing all the thinking. Encourage others to debate the issues and make decisions based on divergent intelligent thoughts. Education happens when you learn from others.
Love your family and your friends and don’t hate your enemies. Hate gets in the way of doing a good job as a parent, as a loyal friend, as a successful person.
Never stop learning. It should never be final. I’m learning something new every day, learning more and more as we go through lifMake time to read for information and for pleasure too. It really helps to escape the pressures of everyday living.
Go to church or your chosen house of worship and give just one hour a week to God to thank him for your blessings. It may not have to be more than that. It can be that one hour when you can pray and meditate and feel a sense of calm that refreshes your thoughts and better prepares you for life’s struggles.
Never retire! Why would you want to stop what you love to do and are good at it?

Andy Jassy Just Shared 5 Career Tips for Amazon Staff Who Want to Get Ahead at Work. Check It Out

William Attardi on March 25, 2025

In a blog post published on Friday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy rounded up five of career tips for staffers who want to build successful careers. His tips largely boil down to being experimental, driven, and open to learning.

Seek out work that builds on your passions, which will allow you to do work you find fulfilling.
Adopt an experimental approach to your career by trying out different fields.
Don’t fear failure. Instead……be self-aware and learn from mistakes.
Have a strong work ethic and be a good team player. Position yourself as someone people can trust.
Be a “great learner” to excel. You should be learning all the time.

Lastly he added: A person’s success often hinges on their attitude to work. There’s so many things you can’t control in your work life, but you can control your attitude.

Andy Jassy just shared 5 career tips for Amazon staff who want to get ahead at work. Check it out.

SWOT Analysis and Generative AI

William Attardi on March 17, 2025

SWOT Analysis and Generative AI.mp4

Sponsored by Satco|Nuvo S11521 Product Page

Why Use AI

Efficiency and Automation: AI can automate repetitive tasks saves time and reduces human effort
Data Processing: AI excels at analyzing large datasets quickly uncovers patterns and insights that humans might miss
Scalability: AI systems can handle growing workloads without a proportional increase in costs or resources
Accuracy: AI can perform tasks with high precision, reducing errors in areas like diagnostics or forecasting.
24/7 Availability: AI tools can operate continuously improving productivity and customer support

Electrical Wholesaling: Bill Attardi Launches LearnersLive.com as Lighting Industry Training Resource

William Attardi on January 27, 2025

Bill Attardi Launches LearnersLive.com as Lighting Industry Training Resource | Electrical Wholesaling

LearnersLive.com will draw from Attardi’s 60 years of lighting industry experience, Q&As with lighting experts and other lighting market training resources. Spend a few minutes with Bill Attardi and you will learn a few things about him real fast. He’s a 60-year veteran of the lighting market who quite possibly loves learning about the lighting business more today than when he started in the business as a sales rep for Westinghouse Lamp/Philips (now part of Signify) selling lamps in the Big Apple in 1965. You can also sense his passion for learning and teaching in the services he provides lighting and electrical professionals through Attardi Marketing, and through the Energy Watch News blog.

When you talk with Bill, you will also quickly find out he is a lifetime learner who not only enjoys learning something new every day about the latest in lighting, but also loves teaching others about lighting, sales, marketing, management and life. This passion for teaching fuels the works he does as an adjunct professor teaching strategic marketing and management courses at Monmouth University since 2000. His background as a lifetime learner and teacher inspired a new venture: www.learnerslive.com. In describing the launch of LearnersLive.com, Attardi says it will be a learning experience where lighting professionals will have the opportunity to learn something every day, through virtual courses that will include marketing and management sessions developed through the courses he teaches at Monmouth University; interviews with lighting experts including Jim Benya, Deb Burnett, Mark Rea, Chris Brown and Bernie Erickson; and other lighting industry training websites and videos.

“Learning Showcase on LearnersLive.com is committed to the learning process,” he says in a LearnersLive.com post. “An activity that goes on and on and on, as it should. Every month, my passion as an educator is to contribute to that process with what I have learned over my lifetime.” Effective Presentation Skills is currently posted at LearnersLive.com in three 30-minute virtual sessions, and in February Attardi will post his “Selling in the Executive Suite” video. He says the video will teach the special skills required to sell a major project to the executives that run a customer’s business. “I have a passion for teaching and learning and have been doing it most of my life and for the past 20-plus years at Monmouth University,” Attardi says. “I want to continue doing it as long as God allows.”

Launch of LearnersLive.com in 2025 – A Passion for Learning by Bill Attardi

William Attardi on December 31, 2024

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Learn as if you were to live forever.

Mahatma Gandhi

In every environment, in every company, in every department, in every office, in every classroom, on every team, there are inequities. Men and women come in all sizes, all levels of acumen, all degrees of competency and talent. In management, many times, not of your choosing, you get a diversity of high achievers, good performers, weak contributors, and those that do not contribute a dime to the performance of the team. I call them the deadbeats!

College students are there to learn, to prepare for a life of success in a leadership role with an organization of their instigation or rather, maybe one of their choosing, and that may happen a few times. In my undergraduate classes, especially when they are mostly seniors, and certainly in my graduate classes at Monmouth University, I congratulate them for the progress they have made so far in their collegiate work and no matter the future, each and every one of them has earned the right to be called highly competent individual…..…as long as they nourish the learning process. But I explain, that’s only the start of a successful career, do they have the talent and dedication to learning, all the time, to move on…

Learners possess certain attributes that distinguish them from the Learned. They anticipate rather than react to change. Some call that vision. They become essential facilitators of change within their altered environment. They can skillfully communicate the new and technically esoteric with a clarity that leads to understanding and advocacy. Organizations that don’t value learning and the change that springs from learning will struggle to stay relevant in this fast-paced ever-changing marketplace.

The world is changing rapidly.

For the timid, change is frightening; for the comfortable, change is threatening;

for the confident, change is opportunity…….and confidence comes from competency.

Nido Qubein, President of High Point University

There’s that word competency again. That’s why most individuals even go to college, to develop their competency. Learners are just highly competent individuals that influence change in an organization and, in turn, as leaders, allow others to adapt to that change. As an Educator, my ambition here is to express my view that education, the learning process, is not a one-time event but rather, something you do right all the time. Sounds a lot like Vince Lombardi when he talked about doing things right, not once in a while but all the time……remember that? I believe learning is something you do all the time!

Launch of LearnersLive.com in 2025

I have a passion for teaching, for learning……been doing it most of my life and for the past 20+ years at Monmouth University. Want to continue doing it as long as God allows.

Here’s the plan:

LearnersLive Objective: to learn something you do not know; to confirm / change what you already know!
To post something for you to learn, every single day…a continuing learning experience.
Focus will be on topics of learning…..I have a dozen courses we can add to the curriculum right away…..all virtual……from 5 minute to 30 minute sessions.
Marketing & management sessions I teach at Monmouth University….
Will invite other educators………already talked to Jim Benya, Deb Burnett, Mark Rea, Chris Brown, Bernie Erickson, others ………
Interviews with industry leaders…
Also access to industry training websites and videos
DISC assessments

Will keep some of EnergyWatch……..2025 will be a celebration for your humble correspondent: 60 years in the lighting business. Whoooooah! Will continue to post on LearnersLive.com:

The monthly blog on a variety of subjects
The monthly newsletter recap
Industry news and new product information but only if you learn something
Published articles that focus on teaching something, not just about lighting…
Industry research………including other training courses offered by the industry

What do you think? Need your help with any suggestions you may have to make this effort meaningful as an ongoing contributor to your personal learning activities.